circulating a letter to their colleagues in the house urging them to pull their support. meanwhile, more democrats are hinting the president will invoke the 14th amendment, should do so and raise the debt ceiling himself. by the way, both sides keep pointing the fingers squarely at one another. >> the fact is republicans have offered the only proposal at this point that attempts to get at the root of the problem and which actually has a chance of getting to the president's desk. >> this is ridiculous. people should grow up and understand. in this world you don't get every single thing you want. you must give up something, and this is the message that i have for my republican friends today. >> a team of reporters is working the story which has been changing by the minute. luke russ sert on the hill and kristen welker at the white house. luke, i want to start with you. let's talk about what john boehner is facing here, what type of wall may he be backed

into? >> reporter: it's a difficult road to get to 217 votes. they are all republican, thomas, in the house representatives for boehner's plan, but it's not impossible. this is a team effort, i am told. house whip kevin mccarthy, house majority leader eric cantor aggressively twisting arms trying to get undecided members leaning their way saying if we do not pass anything out of the house, the republican party, the house gop and speaker boehner loses all leverage in the grand negotiations to raise the debt limit. listen to mike pence, a former gop leadership guy who is quite conservative who didn't quite give a ringing endorsement of boehner's plan. >> some of the most prominent members of the democrat minority in this congress today, and they have expressed support for this amendment. the american people overwhelmingly support a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, and soç i urge m colleagues to keep an open mind, keep an open mind to the boehner plan. >> and there you see that he

wants his colleagues to keep an open mind to the boehner plan. mike pence, fairly conservative, if he's the type of guy that john boehner needs to get on board for this to have a good easy pathway forward, that being said, it's expected to see the concrete language later today, perhaps see the floor tomorrow, but either way you slice it and dice it, thomas, the way in which this is going, it looks like there will have to be some sort of bipartisan agreement come this weekend between harry reid and john boehner that goes in at the last minute, because whatever comes out of the house, president obama has issued a veto threat and as well there's a stonewall in the united states senate. >> luke russert on capitol hill, thank you. we are waiting a briefing from the white house that's expected to get started very shortly. we're seeing the podium there. jay carner is expected to talk as well as president obama making an appearance. our kristen welker is at white house. it's just going to be jay carney, sorry about that. jay carney speaking today. kristen, you're at the white house, but explain what we

should expect when it comes to so much of the rhetoric on the democratic side about whether or not the president should be using the 14th amendment. >> reporter: hi there, thomas. well, you know, that's been an idea bandied back and forth for a couple of weeks now. white house officials just this morning pushing back against that option. they say they just don't think it's a viable option. president obama himself addressed it the end of last week during a town hall meeting when he said he'd actually consulted his counsel about this, and they just don't think it's a winning argument. now interestingly, former president bill clinton said he would have no problem using the 14th amendment in this type of a situation, but the white house standing firm saying that this is something that they have to get done with congress, anfç white house officials telling me this morning that they are confident that they will get done by that august 2nd deadline. the white house is in an interesting spot right now, thomas, because a lot of the action is on capitol hill. so white house officials say that the president is very much in contact with lawmakers there, but, again, we're seeing more of the back and forth going on on

capitol hill. the president right now not having as prominent a role as he certainly did last week when he was holding those daily meetings with congressional leaders, but white house officials insist that they are confident this will get done by that august 2nd deadline. thomas? >> kristen, take a listen to what congressman james clyburn had to say just a short time ago concerning the 14th amendment. >> with the same pen that he vetoes that short-term debt ceiling extension, he should sign an executive order invoking the 14th amendment. >> so kristen, how much of a hail mary pass is it to do that, to invoke the 14th amendment? >> reporter: well, you know, i think it's tricky, and i think standing where we are right now, what we might see before we see him invoke the 14th amendment is some sort of an extension, whether that be by ten days or longer so that this really can

get worked out through congress. the president has been adamant that that's the right way to go. he doesn't want to invoke the 14th amendment. again, his counsel doesn't believe it's a winning argument, so as of right now believes they would be standing out on a him to do that. thomas? >> kristen welker at the white house, kristen, thank you. joining me now is republican senator from missouri roy blunt. sir, great to have you with us today. >> nice to be here, thomas. >> democrats are accusing speaker john boehner of not having control of his own party this, split betweenç the republican party and the tea partiers. take a listen to what senator chuck schumer had to say earlier today. >> instead of leading the house, speaker boehner is being led by a fringe in his caucus that thinks default is okay. well, speaker boehner should not and we cannot let a small block of house republicans lead the whole nation off a cliff. >> sir, we spoke earlier about a

letter that's been sent by tea party senators asking their house colleagues not to support boehner's plan. do you have faith in what speaker is putting together in the plan that he wants to present? >> well, you know, that's really up to the house to decide if they can pass that plan or not. i do know when i was the whip in the house, i would have been pretty upset if a bunch of senators sent a letter over saying don't do whatever it is the leadership is trying to work with you to get done. i don't know that that was helpful at all. i do know that, you know, the president's budget, speaking of senator schumer, got zero votes in the senate, so this -- let's not talk about who is leading who here. when you're having these fast moving efforts to try to now find a solution, clearly you may have to go back and say this didn't do quite what we thought it was going to do. let's make the changes it takes to get it to do what it needs to do, and i think that's probably what speaker boehner did overnight, and my belief is he probably gets to the 217 votes on -- on his proposal, and his

proposal is a whole lot like the elements of the harry reid proposal, so there's a way forward here somewhere, though it might actually require a short extension so we can iron all those differences out. >> sir, what are you hearing from your senate colleagues on the left? earlier today we heard from senator harry reid saying the bill that he -- the plan that he has put together to try and get through meets the demands of republican side, with no revenues, with the cuts, roughly $2.5 trillion cuts that will get everyone in washington through the next election. do you think you could be confident in supporting that? >> democrats in the senate tell me they haven't seen harry reid's bill so i don't know what's in that bill. i do know that it had to be looked at a second time as well. i do think that the idea of this select committee was a harry reid idea initially, and i do support that. i think a committee of the house, not an outside commission, a committee of the house and senate that has to

report back, and then we have to vote up or down may be one way to get some real long-term reforms, and i'm for that vote in the senate on that kind of committee being a 51-vote margin rather than a 60-vote margin. >> sir, as we talk with different senators, as we talk with different congressmen and congresswomen about what's taking place in washington, d.c. right now, everyone that comes on camera agrees that they are disgusted by the length of time that this has taken, that people don't get their work done and come to a compromise. what is it that the american people are missing out on when we don't have the cameras on you guys to see what's really going on there because, as i said, everyone comes out talking about the fact that they want to see this get done. they want to see their plan go through, but, still, the american people are being dragged to a cliff. >> well, i think after the politics of the last couple of years that both sides have had a really hard time figuring that neither side is in control, and at the end of the day you have to have something that doesn't

perfectly satisfy either republicans in the house and senate or the republicans -- or the democrat majority in the senate and the president of the united states. this is a divided government right now, and by definition if you have a solution it's likely that nobody is going to be totally happen we, that and for some reason, thomas, it's taken an unbelievably long amount of time from everybody from the president of the united states on down toç figure out that th is a situation where you have to come together with something that is not exactly what either side would have done if they were doing it on their own. >> you make a great point there because the sign of a great compromise is where both sides walk away from the table not feeling completely satisfied, so when we talk about the fact that harry reid is coming forth or said that he wants to come forth with a bill that has no new revenues, no new taxes in there, why do you feel that that's something -- that the republicans wouldn't be able to get behind? >> well, frankly, i don't think

anybody has seen the bill, and i think the biggest obstacle to senator reid's bill initially was that he's counting a lot of savings of things that nobody thinks is going to happen, like ten more years in iraq and afghanistan, and after you factor all that out, let's see what the plan is, but we don't have a lot of time to look at this plan, and i'm of the view at some point, if you're getting 85% of what you want, and i hope my side can do that, that's not a defeat. that's a victory, and the next day you start working on the last 15% on whatever is the next thing that the congress is going to do. we have to understand that nobody is going to get everything they want here, but we're not talking about new revenues right now. everybody is apparently talking about decreasing spending, and let's see where we can get now and where we can get a couple of months from now with a select committee that has to report back even more ways to cut spending. >> senator roy blunt, nice to have you on with us today. we appreciate your time.

>> you bet. >> want to remind everybody we are watching what's taking place there now. full screen on your monitor, waiting for jay carney, white house press secretary, to come out and address reporters. we'll be back with much more right after this quick break. call overly protective. att especially behind the wheel. nothing wrong with that. in fact, allstate gives them a bonus -- twice a year -- for being safe drivers. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. welcome back. as promised, want to get you straight to this white house press briefing with white house press secretary jay carney. >> and with that, i just want to -- i have a quick

announcement to make at the top. on friday the president will hold an event at the walter e. washington convention center in washington, d.c. to announce the next round of a coordinated national program to improve fuel efficiency for cars and light-duty trucks for model years 2017-2025. this program, which builds on the historic agreement achieved by this administration for model years 2012-2016 will result in significant cost savings for consumers at the pump, dramatically reduce oil consumption, cut pollution and create jobs. that is on friday, and i know that we all look forward to some other kind of news story to cover, so i'm sure you'll be all over that. separately, i just want to say that, you know, we are obviously paying a lot of attention, i know you are, we are clearly, to the process ongoing that must by necessity result in some sort of compromise so that we do not for

the first time in our history lose our borrowing authority and risk default. the president made clear the other night the way to do had a is to reach a compromise. we still firmly believe that a compromise is essential and possible. i would note that when we look at the various pieces of legislation that are on the hill and whether or not they are vehicles for compromise, i think it's worth noting that the speaker of the house earlier today in pitching his plan made the point on radio that in his words barack obama hates it, nancy pelosi hates, it harry reid hates it. now, you know, i don't think there's really much to add to it. if you're trying to make the case that this is something that we can come together around, as a country, that this is something that represents a fair compromise between democrats and republicans and the white house, that it doesn't really hold up.

so we believe that there is a place to find compromise. the president has made clear that he believes that this has been an opportunity to do something big and historic that requires political will by democrats and republicans, a willingness to take heat from your base as opposed to placate your base, but it requires a will on both sides, and with that i'll take your questions. mr. feller. >> thanks, jay. two questions. we're obviously 24 hours closer to potential calamity here. is the white house any closer itself to a strategy and what's the president doing to achieve it? >> as you know, congress needs to take action. we have been intensely engaged in negotiations, in conversations, in proposals and counterproposals with congress at a variety of different levels. the talks led by the vice president, the private conversations and negotiations that the president had with the

speaker of the house. we have continuedç even since e speaker of the house walked away from those -- from that potential compromise last friday, we've continued to have conversations with all levels, with democrats, republicans, principals and staffers in search of a solution to this problem that's balanced and fair. we continue to this day, and to this hour, to do just that. one of the problems we face here is that last week while we were engaged, the president rather, while the president was engaged and obviously others in trying to reach an historic bipartisan compromise, we were told that the house had to go through the motions, you know, sort of go through the ritual of debating, crafting, debating and voting on a measure that everyone knew from the start would never become law. so that happened. that ate up a week. now we're doing it again. i mean, the speaker's words themselves made clear that they are not now working on a -- on a

proposal that would fit a compromise. time it running out. we need to come together now. we have only -- it is only a matter of days before the august 2nd deadline, and while at midnight on august 2nd we don't all turn into pumpkins we do as a country lose our borrowing authority for the first time in our history, and that would be a very bad thing. >> you said from the podium that the president would only sign a short-term -- >> listening to jay carney at the white house giving a briefing today to reporters talking about where it stands currently right now. the tone in d.c. as the duel over the debt debate continues right now as we are getting ever so close to that deadline of august the 2nd. joining me now is nationally syndicated radioç talk show ho michael smerconish, also an msnbc contributor. michael, we just had on senator

roy blunt. earlier today i spoke with senator barbara boxer. over and over again everyone comes to the camera saying they are sick of this debate and want to move on and want to get this done for the american people. yet when the cameras go away and everybody goes back to work, it doesn't seem like they can get this done. what is it going to take to get to a plan that everyone can agree on and feel as if they have actually made a compromise? >> you should do what i do for a living, thomas, because i'm hearing the same sort of thing via the telephones constantly on the air. people are just so frustrated and thus far it doesn't seem like anybody is coming out of this thing looking like a winner, although i would argue that some are losing more than others and chief among them would be the hard core gop members of the house who are perceived as having drawn a line in the sand and being absolutely unwilling to compromise, so unless there's some compromising among those who heretofor have been willing to give, i don't think it resolves.

it probably resolves with a two-step solution where there's short-term relief and the part i like this the least we'll punt this to a newly created committee. we had a committee. simpson/bowles did a heck of a job, a shared pained kind of approach but it wasn't sold or at least sold effectively to the american people. >> you would think that through the amount of plans that have come and gone, roughly nine different ones that have surfaced and then sunk, that there would be at least parts of them that could serve with integrity to come together to form something in terms of forward motion as the country, you know, as i was saying to senator blunt, gets dragged to the brink. really what is at stake here is the fact that we're putting how the rest of the world views us when it comes to our finances. >> well, thomas, you know, in a  of a contract, one of the questions a court will ask is whether there was negotiation in good faith. i'm not convinced there's negotiation in good faith. it's hard for me, from the

outside looking in, to judge what's going on and not come to the conclusion that some don't want it to work. some would rather see failure as long as it's failure on the watch of this president so that they can try to drag him down in the process, even if it means that the economy suffers. now i think that's a horrible thought, but, unfortunately, it's one that i continually have. >> michael smerconish, good to see you today. appreciate it. >> you, too, thomas, thanks. >> up next, american war vets have a tool to help combat the age-old stress of war, and they can use it right at their fingertips. amy winehouse album sales, they speak after the news of her death. details about the new record that her fans have set. ♪ go to rehab, i say, no, no, no ♪ time for the your business

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welcome back, everybody. the government says it hopes several new smartphones applications will help veterans cope with mental wounds. right now one in five soldiers suffer in mental health problems as a result of war zone experiences and over a million vets seek treatments. now, there are half a dozen smartphone apps geared towards helping soldiers deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and many other mental illnesses. joining me now is sonya batten from the department of veteran affairs offices of mental services. great to have you with me today. i've got my trusty ipad here. >> great. >> bear with me as everyone at home will, too. i want to talk about the different apps put out there that are supposed to be really easy and user friendly for everybody. so i'm going to put this first one up which has to do with breathing. i mean, it's something as simple as that. would you think that people would know how to breathe and relax, but this app will teach you how to do it.

explain how the military came up with this and decided to put out these applications for people to use and have so conveniently at their fingertips. >> so we at the department of veteran affairs have been working closely with the department of defense for several years now on mental health issues, recognizing that we really have shared needs and need to combine our shared expertise to make sure that we're bringing the best it bear for our nation's service members and veterans, and so recognizing that our veterans and service members are not just going on the web to get information but are more and more using smartphones to access resources and tools that are useful to them, we realized that if we were going to keep up with them, we needed to work on developing smartphone applications that could help them with some of these mental health issues. >> and just to demonstrate what we're seeing here is the fact that on this application right now, with breathe 2, the relax application, teaching you how to breathe in.

over here you can see on the left-hand side the duration of how long you should be breathing in, and then how long you should be exhaling, and it shows you soothing images along the way so that you can concentrate on being on the beach or somewhere nice while you're doing this. in the next one though, this is a really interesting one because the mood tracker that the application has been put out is one that will track people over a long period of time. so sonja, how can you explain to someone that this would not replace what a therapist does but actually work as a beneficial tool if you are in therapy? >> yeah, absolutely. the -- i was just over on capitol hill this morning talking to some of our staffers, and one of them, who is a retired marine, actually brought up this very same issue, that it's so important that people understand that these tools are meant to be an adjunct, to be an additional resource to use to help them get through difficult moment, but they are not meant

to replace counseling or therapy. it can be really useful for somebody who might be going into a therapy session, receiving an effective exposure-based treatment for ptsd but might have trouble remembering what their therapist tells them during the session, and so having an application that provides them many of the same tools, using the same language and guidance can really reinforce those strategies that they are learning during therapy. >> also, unfortunately, iç thi there's still a stigma involved with therapy for a lot of people, so putting this convenience in people's pockets, sonja, so to speak, is really going to help alleviate maybe part of the stigma but also directly get to a patient that would need it. >> absolutely. i think you make two good points there. one is that it -- you know, the really cool thing about having the smartphone apps is people carry them around all the time so they can have it at a moment's notice if they need help getting through a difficult or stressful moment, but the other part is for -- maybe for people who haven't quite gotten to the point where they are ready or feel like they need to

access care. this can provide reliable sort of quality information that can help them maybe start to understand some of the symptoms they are having and get some of that encouragement to maybe seek treatment. >> i was feeling anxious having to work with the ipad, but i feel okay now doing the breathing exercises. >> i'm glad to here that. >> great to have you on today. thanks for your time and thanks for the explanation about these apps that have been put out. >> sure. thanks for the opportunity. >> sure thing. coming up for everybody, will the death of osama bin laden trigger the end of al qaeda as we know it? there's some new reports that the terror organization's days are numbered, plus, today's "newsnation" gut check, why the new matchup ads featuring julia roberts and christie turlington are being banned in britain. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market requires decisive action. i go to e-trade and tap into the power of revolutionary mobile apps

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♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ ting! ] [ male announcer ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage or visit travelers.com. hi, everybody, welcome back to "newsnation." the countdown is now on. the 2012 olympics is one year

away. sense of closure, former president george w. bush shares his first public thoughts about the killing of osama bin laden. cancer connection. a new report can't prove the disease is linked to dust and smoke created from the terror attacks. i'm going to get to talk to the wife of a 9/11 first responder who is diagnosed with cancer. uncharted territory. a 61-year-old woman is attempting to do something that no one has ever done before, and wait until you hear this one. i think you're going to like it. so, one year from today we'll be watching the opening ceremony of the 2012 olympic games in london, and right now we're showing you the live ceremony at trafalgar square to mark the one-year countdown. just heard from british prime minister david cameron and the president of the international olympic committee. nbc's peter alexander joins us now live from london to tell us what else is going on there. peter, it looks like everything is almost ready for 2012. >> reporter: yeah. they say they are pretty much right on schedule, bang-on

schedule is the way the british folks say it. to give you a sense though, a year from now, 80,000 people are going to be inside that olympic stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place. it's also where track and field will happen. but right now aç year out ther are sort of duelling ceremonies taking place, one right adjacent to us at the aquatic center and the other one in trafalgar square that we were speaking about. here's the prime minister of britain, david cameron, speaking a short time ago. >> with a year to go, it's on time, it's on budget. the great stadium is finished, the aquatic finished, the velodrome is finished, and i think this can be a great advertisement for our country. >> reporter: also today we had a chance to speak to the sort of wild and wacky mayor of the city, boris johnson, and he said look at that place, peter. have you seen the you a cuttic

center, the water is beautiful and blue. he said i haven't swam in it but you could drink it it's so clean. pretty excited about the upcoming olympics and what will make this unique is the intersection of iconic landmarks, big ben and parliament over here and wembley stadium and wimbledon, the host of the tennis venue here as well and the new venues, including the beach volleyball right out there from ten downing street, right around the corner of buckingham palace. >> peter alexander from london, great to see you. thanks so much. a reminder for everybody. be sure to stick with the networks of nbc. we'll bring you the exclusive full coverage of the 2012 london games next year. a rather public appearance from the pan am flight 103 bomber tops our look at the "newsnation." libyan state tv says abdelbaset

al megrahi attended a rally in tripoli supporting libyan head of state moammar çgadhafi. al megrahi was the only man convicted in the 1988 pan am flight 103 bombing that killed 270 people when it exploded over lock be, scotland. al megrahi was released from prison on compassionate grounds in 2009 because he had cancer and was only expected to live three months. u.s. officials say osama bin laden's death could mean the end of al qaeda's global terrorism network. in addition to bin laden's death, the new america foundation says cia drone strikes are responsible for taking out at least 1,200 militants since 2004. officials still caution the end of al qaeda would not mean the end of terrorists targeting the u.s. and the walter reed army medical ceremony retired its ceremonial flags this weekend as it preps to close its door this september. the center treated more than 18,000 american troops for more than one century. patients and faculty will be

relocated to a facility in bethesda, maryland. a new report issued by federal officials say there's not enough evidence to say whether the dust and smoke cloud caused by the september 11th attacks on the world trade center caused cancer. findings are a setback to ground zero recovery and rescue workers and people who have since been diagnosed with cancer since that attack, and it means they don't qualify for federal benefits to treat or compensate them under the 9/11 health and compensation act, at least that is until further study can be completed. joining me now is a woman woes new york city fire fighter was a first spoernd aresponder and wa diagnosed in march with brain cancer. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> and thanks for taking the time to tell this story.ç first let's talk about your husband. how is he doing today? >> not good today. i just trying to call him in the

green room and he didn't answer. today is a rough day, and i feel kind of guilty that i'm here, but i think i'm here for an overall good cause. >> explain day in and day out what is your husband's day-to-day travails like. >> well, mark 17th we realized he had a headache for about a week or so, and i'm a nurse and i thought, that's odd. let's go to the doctor, and we went to the physician, and the physician said let's do an mri and since that day on, march 17th, our lives have changed dramatically. he was diagnosed with cns lymphoma, a brain lymphoma, very rare, no other conditions, healthy man, typical nurse and fireman exchange working together, three small kids. have a good life together, and our life has changed since then. >> let's talk more about jeff though. he's 37 years old. been a 17-year, 18 years on the

fire department, and right now he's being treated at sloan-kettering cancer center which is a fabulous place to be treated. >> yes. >> but that is not to say it's not expensive. explain the costs that you have incurred. >> well, unfortunately, we found out with this that it's not covered cancer under the world trade center bill so everything is through ghi and our insurance. we're both city employees, so the medications he's on is very expensive. the co-pays for the hospitals, traveling time back and forth to the city, babysitters, it's just a tremendous strain, and besides the financial part, but the phone calls back and forth and insurance companies,ç you know coordinating everything, and then just dealing with this on top of it. it's -- it's been a tremendous burden. >> is there a history of cancer in the family? >> no, and this is not something that would come from a history. >> as you said, it's very rare. this happened in mid-march, the diagnosis. >> yes. >> is there any doubt in your

mind, in jeff's mind, in the family's mind what caused this? >> no, not at all. i mean, you know, you can google cns lymphoma, and there's no reason why jeff should have this, and, you know, most times i say cns lymphoma, what's that, and even my nurse friends. >> it's that rare. >> what's the best hope for jeff's progknowsies? >> the best hope is that we can get a remission and have some good years together. and -- and hopefully we'll get a few years and then if it comes back chemo again and same thing again. right now he's on a phase two trial at sloan-kettering and they are doing a bone marrow transplant. today is a day of rest and tomorrow he's getting the transplant, so we're hoping with that study or trial that we'll have some good outcomes and maybe he can even have a longer remission period. >> we'll let you go so you can try and raise jeff on the phone again. >> thank you.

>> margaret, thanks for coming and sharing your story about your husband, you and jeff, and we wish you nothing but the best. >> thank you, thank you, everybody. >> now to the crisis in east africa which recently finally got the world's attention. the u.n. says more than 11 million people are in urgent need of help because of the drought and the famine there, and thousands have already died. today a u.n. plane delivered ten tons of desperately needed food, medicine and other supplies to somalia where an estimated 3.7 million people are facing starvation and where relief efforts are being hampered because of the continuing civil war. as a result of the fighting though, thousands of somalis are fleeing to neighboring countries of kenya, ethiopia and refugee cqs(s in those countries are now overflowing.se countries are now a live report now from a refugee camp in kenya near the border in somalia. rohit, tell us what you're witnessing today as more and

more of the refugees are flooding into the camps. >> reporter: well, thomas, every single day here is absolutely desperate. we've been reporting from the biggest refugee camp in the world, close to the border between kenya and somalia. it's on the kenyan side, and every day around 1,000 or so people flow across the border to come specifically to this camp, putting a strain on the scarce resources in this area. now today what we did through a reverse of some of that journey, we traveled the 60 miles or so towards the border with somalia. along the way we met a doctor who had been treating patients who had crossed through a border town. he said that people had come to him having walked for hundreds and hundreds of miles, for weeks and weeks. they stopped with him to get treatment thinking that they were almost there, and in the scheme of the huge voyages they really were, but there was still

days of walking left with their families before getting here to the refugee camp, and he said the people who left him as healthy adults had actually died along the way. children, too, being killed by thirst and hunger. children losing parents, parents losing children, too, but, thomas, what's really difficult is getting the aid in the other direction, and today, as you referenced, the world's food program managed a significant and huge delivery of food. ten tons of food delivered to mogadishu, the most dangerous city in the group. the presence of the groupç al shabab around southern somalia is making it really difficult to get aid through there, and so the united nations is calling for $1.6 billion of donations from countries around the world to try to secure that urgent help to the people in those most desperate areas.

thomas? >> thanks so much for joining us, rohit, appreciate it. we know so many want to help the victims in famine, log on to newsnation.msnbc.com for a list of charitable organizations currently accepting donations. there's a lot going on here, and here are some of the things we thought you should know about. former president george w. bush finally speaking out about the u.s. killing of osama bin laden. during an interview with the national grow graphic channel the president said, quote, i didn't feel any great sense of happiness or jubilation. i felt a sense of closure, and i felt a sense of gratitude that justice had been done, and that is one thing we just thought you should know. back after this. [ male announcer ] germs in your mouth build up and form a layer called biofilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®.

i'm martin bashir. coming up at the top. hour. we're going to hurt some people. house republicans rally around a bank heist film to motivate themselves for tomorrow's vote on their debt ceiling package, but it's a package and the party

that looks to be in disarray. the clock is ticking as the first default in american history beckons. stay with us. so it's being called the extreme dream. a woman who broke world records for long distance swimming in the '70s is gearing up for one heck of a long haul. diana nyad now 61 plans to swim a whopping 103 miles in shark-infested waters from cuba to key west. now back in 1979, she broke the record for longest swim in history by swimming from the bahamas to florida. now she's going to tackle this new challenge this summer and she hasn't been swimming professional in 21 years. diana joins me now by phone. good to have you with me today. you tried this swim before when you were in your 20s, so why would you want to attempt it now that you're in your 60s. >> thomas, i guess that was a fair question. i was 28 back in 1978 in my youth. boy, it was a wild day. we had bad, bad winds.

eight-foot, huge rolling, chopping waves. you know, there's better weather predictions these days. better gps instruments and, you know, it was just one of those things that it was aç dream th eluded me all these years. i turned 60 a year ago and i was kind of annoyed at being 60 and i said i'm going to feel empowered and show the world how young 60 is and, you know, i've got plenty, like what is it, 77 million baby boomers in this country alone. >> right. >> they are all writing me saying, you know what, i dragged that novel out of the back of the drawer. i'm not too old, i'm going to get this done that. was kind of the impulse frankly. >> as i understand right now you're prepping up for this by taking swims of up to 24 hours at a time. however, to complete the goal that you have ahead of you, it's going to take roughly about 60 hours. so far explain how your body is handling this training, and do you feel confident you'll be able to pull this off?

>> you know, i do. i can't pretend that i'm not duley humbled by the distance, thomas. this is going to be a long, long way, and so much may happen on the way over. i mean, forget about what i might encounter. >> right. >> you know, the body alone. how will -- you know, there's only so much mind over matter. you know, can you pull out will the body be able to sustain 60 hours, and that's just a guess. it could be more than that. at least as an athlete i can look back at the last two years saying there's been no stone left unturned. i've done every swim, every pushup, you know, every nutritional step, everything i can to get the shoulders and the mind and the heart ready to not come out until i reach the other shore. >> all right. diana, got to go. what date are you expected to do this or start? >> we're sitting here on pins and needles. blowing quite hard off of key west today. there are some light winds expected next week, but i'm just

like waiting like those people climbing mt. evrest. when the ocean gives me the chance, that's whenç we're goi to go. hopefully it will be real soon. >> diana, best of luck, and we want to stay with you on this. send you nothing but love and support and wish you the best. >> i can't tell you. means a lot. it really does. thank you so much, thomas. you take care yourself. >> thank you, diana, you as well. >> an iconic album cover nixed from facebook and amy winehouse. >> "nevermind," everyone who was a music fan in 1991 has to come to mind. got a naked baby floating in the water. it's been yanked from facebook, and facebook said that it did that because it violates terms of use in that facebook does not allow photos that, quote, attack an individual or a group or that contain nudity, drug use, violence or other violations of

the terms of use, so i guess that violates. >> we blurred that baby's privates who is now a grownup. >> that baby's privates have been blurred for a decade. that baby, spencer elden in, his 20s, has no problem with this. he said a lot of people have seen my parts, so to speak, and it's something he shared with the world as an infant. no issues there. >> it's baby. >> i understand by the letter of the terms of use you've got to take it down but on some levels it seems ridiculous. nirvana will be putting out a commemorative album on september 27th so that's why there's a little bit of stir around it. >> speaking of hype around albums, amy winehouse is back on the top of the charts, people who have rushed back to her music since her death. >> that's right. something that is not totally uncommon when we see a great performer pass away, especially when it's early and tragic like amy winehouse was, but the number of people who have rushed out to get her "back to black" album is phenomenal. sold 37,000 copies in the days

following -- the two days following her death. interestingly enough, peopleç wondering about how people consume their music now. 95% of those copies were digital sales so it's not the record stores have a long way to go to catch up with what people are actually doing online. >> cds going to the landfill. >> last time there was a huge bump in amy winehouse's "back to black" sales was when she won five grammys and in the week after that only 27,000 copies. >> talent gone too soon, for sure. very latest in entertainment news logon to scoop.today.com. thanks. >> got it. still ahead, are airbrushed makeup ads, misleading? britain bans these ads featuring julia roberts and supermodel

christie turlington. it's today's "newsnation" gut check next. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. >> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever.

all right. so it's time now for the "newsnation" gut check. two advertisements by l'oreal featuring julia roberts and christie turlington have been banned in the uk. now a watchdog group blocked the ads for being overly air brushed saying the actress and model look unrealistically attractive. here are the ads next to unaltered images of the models, the ad with julia roberts promotes a l'oreal foundation and the turlington ad highlights an anti-aging cream and shows its effect on parts of her face. all right. l'oreal tells nbc it's disappointed by the decision to pull the ad and defends the message of those ads. on the julia roberts spread specifically they say the product has been proved scientifically to provide

luminosity to the skin and some lines are still clearly visible beneath the illustration, and we do not believe the ad exaggerates the effect that can be achieved using this product. professional airbrush artists say it's up to the consumer to expect some retouching on different professional advertisements. what does your gut tell you about this as you look at the pics? are advertisements featuring airbrushed models to be banned? go to newsnation.msnbc.com and cast your vote interest. that does it for this edition of "newsnation." i'm thomas roberts. stay right there because martin bashir comes your way next. naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. ...was it something big? ...or something small?

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good afternoon. it's wednesday, july the 27th. and here's what's happening. boehner's blunder part deux. the speaker of the house can't get his facts and figures straight. >> putting humpty dump b